Page:Morris-Jones Welsh Grammar 0031.png

sound; thus it is usual to divide can-u ‘to sing’ so, can being the stem and u the ending, instead of ca-nu, which is the true syllabic division. In the case of more than one written consonant the division is usually made to follow the sound; thus, can-nu ‘to whiten’, plen-tyn ‘a child’, the etymological division being cann-u, plent-yn. Ml. scribes divided a word anywhere, even in the middle of a digraph.

In this grammar syllabic division is indicated when required by | as above; and the hyphen is used to mark off the formative elements of words, which do not necessarily form separate syllables.

Diphthongs.

§ 28. A diphthong consists of the combination in the same syllable of a sonantal with a consonantal vowel. When the sonantal element comes first the combination is a falling diphthong. When the consonantal element comes first it is a rising diphthong. “Diphthong” without modification will be understood to mean falling diphthong.

Falling Diphthongs.

§ 29. i. In O. W. falling diphthongs had for their second element either i, front u, or back u. The O. W. diphthongs with their Ml. and Mn. developments are as follows:

	O. W.	Ml. W.	Mn. W.
i $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	ai	aɥ, ae	(aɥ), ae
	oi	oɥ, oe	(oɥ), oe
	ui	wɥ	w͡y
	ei	ei	ei, ai
Front ü	ou (au)	eu	eu, au
Back u $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$
	au	aw	aw
	eu	ew	ew
	iu	iw	iw
	iu	ɥw, ỿw	ɥw, ỿw
	ou	ỿw, ew	ỿw, ew

ii. (1) As i in O. W. represented both i and ɥ the exact value of the second element in O. W. ai, oi, ui cannot be fixed; but it was probably receding in the direction of ɥ. In w͡y it has remained ɥ. The former diphthongs are generally written ae and oe; but the spellings ay, oy are commonly met with in Early Ml. W., and sometimes in mss. of the Mn. period; as guayt ‘blood’, coyt ‘timber’, mays ‘field’ l.l. 120; croyn ‘skin’ a.l. i. 24, mays do. 144; Yspayn ‘Spain’, teyrnassoyẟ ‘kingdoms’ p 9 r. In r.m. 118